Firefighter F.D.18: Hands-On

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Will Konami's next project have what it takes to light up the charts?

By Jeremy Dunham

Developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo, the new actioner Firefighter F.D.18 is definitely one of the more interesting titles we've had the opportunity to experience. Putting players in the role of veteran fireman Dean McGregor, F.D.18 takes a familiar concept (rescuing helpless victims) and adds a realistic spin with true life heroes. Obviously inspired by movies like Backdraft and The Towering Inferno, the game has a very cinematic approach with plenty of cut scenes and conversation.

The story itself is your typical mystery fare, with a strange wave of fires popping up all over the city and no culprit. As the tale progresses, Dean finds himself closer and closer to revealing the truth behind the unexplained firestorm while simultaneously becoming involved with a budding news reporter. From what we've seen so far, the vocal acting isn't going to win any Oscars, but the plot appears to be transforming into something interesting anyway. And according to Konami it'll sport plenty of twists and surprises.

Firefighter's mechanics are pretty straightforward. Dean can move through the environment with the left stick and control the position of his hose with the right. Shooting water into a fire plume is as simple as pressing R1 while the L1 key locks onto a target instantly. Happily there's a lot more to do than just that -- as Dean also has the ability crouch to one knee for better vision in a smoky room, avoid falling objects with a dodge button, and interact with several objects in the background and foreground. And while each stage presents the player with the same basic objective (save hostages or lose your mission), the way to get to them is what makes the game interesting.

In one stage, for instance, players will need to struggle their way through a fiery car tunnel while surrounded by falling debris. Dean's mission is to get to trapped victims before they suffocate, burn alive, or become flattened under the weight of falling concrete. To keep things interesting, the paths to the hostages are blocked by various obstacles; be it broken pillar, abandoned automobile, or boxes that have fallen from a cargo truck. Simply blasting these things with your water hose won't be enough to advance either, as you'll need to utilize your other equipment to progress. Up to this point we've managed to employ our ax (for chopping away at objects) and use our rope to pull ourselves out of seemingly impossible situations. The whole thing works pretty well but fans of hot keys may be disappointed -- as you'll need to access extra items via a separate menu screen.

One aspect we definitely like about F.D.18 is the fact that you have to save everyone in order to advance. As a rescue worker your goal is to keep anyone from dying, so if you lose one you lose everything and have to start once again. It's this little touch that adds some extra humanity to the whole thing and one we appreciate in today's age of dumbed-down difficulty settings. Of course, one aspect of the game that isn't dumbed down is the fire; in fact, it's extremely realistic. Depending on the pattern of your hose (stream and spray) and location and type of the fire, it reacts just as real fire would. Catching ablaze whatever stands in its way should be next to something flammable like oil or wood. Particularly nasty are the boss fires, which move and attack like the some kind of hell flurry without resorting into some kind of gimmicky flame creature.

If we had any complaints up to this point, it would have to be look of the game. While the textures are nice and the fire looks great, animation and character models look much older than they actually are. We've also noticed a couple of camera issues that make it hard to tell what's going on when you're behind or near certain objects which can often result in a series of cheap fire hits. We hope to see Konami improve on this a bit before bringing it stateside next month.

And at only a few weeks from release, that's not much time left at all. But even if the game stays exactly as it, it appears as though it could turn out to be a lot fun. We'll be back in a few weeks with additional information and the final review, but we before we go you should check out our media page and download the new movies and screens taken from the latest build. See you soon with more.